Chapter X: Fire Is A Death Sentence:
I woke up in darkness. My tent was missing and I was the only one in the campsite. There were no other tents around me or anything. I looked around and saw the campfire in the center, with logs the sitting logs around it. I should have felt nervous or scared, but there was a sense of calm and peacefulness so I felt no fear walking over to the campfire.

I sat down on one of the logs and stuck my hands out to warm myself. I looked around just one more time to make sure that I was alone. There was no one that I could see. I looked down and saw a bag of marshmallows next to me along with a poker stick. I took one of the sweet candies out of the bag and placed it on my poker, sticking it out into the fire. As I sat on the log, there was this aching thought in the back of my head questioning my very emotions and feelings.

‘Why am I not afraid. Should I be? Maybe I’m not scared because there is nothing to be scared of? Uhh, this making my head hurt…’ I thought. Then suddenly I heard an all too familiar voice. “Mind if I join you?” It said. I looked up and there she was in all her glory. Inkanyamba was there right across from me and was roasting a marshmallow herself. I was a little startled because of she just kind of appeared from thin air, but I quickly shook it off. After all, if Inkanyamba was here to constrict and eat me, she would have started already. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.” I said back. She nodded and continued to cook her treat. I decided to do the same as the awkward silence began to come in.

We were only quiet for about ten seconds but it felt like ten minutes. “So. Uhh, what’s new?” I asked, looking up from the fire. “Well, I’ve just been at my temple snatching up traveler's as they come and go into my coils,” Inkanyamba said. I couldn’t help but find her answer a little funny, but I was also a little interested. “Oh, you have a temple?” I asked. “Why yes, I do. Do you think I just hang out in the trees all day like some kind of animal?” she asked. “No. Not at all, I just didn’t a person or a group of people could survive in the forest long enough to build a temple, cause that is a massive project. That requires a lot of people and a lot of resources. Not to mention time.” I said.

Inkanyamba looked at me with emotionless eyes and smiled. “There’re many secrets that many do not know about these woods. Sometimes, things are better left not discovered,” she said. “Yeah, for those who discover those secrets may change the course of history,” I said. “So anyway, of the catches that you have made today, from one to ten, which was your best?” I asked, not noticing that my marshmallow was starting to catch on fire. Inkanyamba chuckled a little bit and said: “Well, I would have to say that my best was a four."

I giggled a little bit. "Why did I find that funny," I said as I yawned midway into the sentence. Inkanyamba narrowed her eyes at me. "Oh I'm sorry, it's this warm fire making me sleepy,” I said. She looked at the flames and then back at me. “You mammals seem to feel very powerful with your fire don’t you?” Inkanyamba asked. “Well yes. It cooks our food, it keeps us warm, makes night’s less scary with it’s light and best of all, scares away predators.” I said. She seemed to share me down when I said that last bit. Her eyes had a deep, predatory look in them. “Though fire is your strength, it can also be your weakness as well,” Inkanyamba said. I then began to feel soft coils begin to wrap around my torso, but I stupidly decided to ignore it.

“How can it be our weakness?” I asked, leaning forward or at least, the farthest I could lean. Her coils were beginning to put restrictions on my movements. Inkanyamba leaned forward too. Her coils began to constrict, making it harder to breathe. “Your fire helps you by giving you light and heat, but think about it. For a creature like me, heat and light can be a clear path to your location, leading me right to you.” she cooed with deadly intent. By that time, I really couldn’t react because her coils had wrapped around my entire body, with her tail around my neck. It wasn't full on constriction, but it was enough to limit my breath. Inkanyamba was making it clear that I wasn’t going anywhere.

Her coils began to tighten and squeeze around my body. It became harder and harder to breath and soon I couldn’t breathe at all. I tried to fight back and get the coils to loosen or maybe even pry them off, but to no avail. They didn’t even budge a bit. In fact, they might have even tightened. My muscles began to feel numb with the lack of blood flow. My vision began to darken and blur. I began to panic. ‘It’s not real. It’s just a dream.’ I told myself. ‘This isn’t real. It can’t be real. Wake up! Wake up, you idiot. WAKE UP!!!!’
. . .

I woke up, drenched in sweat and panting as hard as I could. I coughed and sputtered, trying to get that sweet air back. ‘What the hell was that?’ I told myself. I sat up in my sleeping bag and looked around. Nothing had changed. Everything was exactly as it had been before. It seemed as though I had just had a bad dream again. Like the one, I had last night. Strange.

I went back to sleep, but I found these dreams strange. Unlike most dreams, where I couldn’t remember half of them during the first 15 seconds of waking up, I could remember every detail from start to finish. Everything. The darkness, the fire, Inkanyamba’s coils, even the taste of the marshmallow in my mouth. Weird. It was like as if it wasn’t a dream. But that can’t be true, because in both dreams there was nothing else around me. Just me and Inkanyamba.

I decided to sleep on it and maybe things will get better in the morning. With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes and slept soundly for the rest of the night…

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This is my tenth part of my "The Hunt" story, which is an ongoing gift art to the amazing Inkanyamba.
I'm sorry if this chapter made you cringe but I tried my best. Don't worry, it's a dream and isn't really that relevant in the story. (right now that is...)

Inkanyamba belongs to https://www.furaffinity.net/user/inkanyamba/
Aiden belongs to me